In response to advancing clinical practice guidelines regarding concussion management, service members, like athletes, complete a baseline assessment prior to participating in high-risk activities. While several studies have established test stability in athletes, no investigation to date has examined the stability of baseline assessment scores in military cadets. The objective of this study was to assess the test–retest reliability of a baseline concussion test battery in cadets at U.S. Service Academies.

All cadets participating in the Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium investigation completed a standard baseline battery that included memory, balance, symptom, and neurocognitive assessments. Annual baseline testing was completed during the first 3 years of the study. A two-way mixed-model analysis of variance (intraclass correlation coefficent (ICC)3,1) and Kappa statistics were used to assess the stability of the metrics at 1-year and 2-year time intervals.

ICC values for the 1-year test interval ranged from 0.28 to 0.67 and from 0.15 to 0.57 for the 2-year interval. Kappa values ranged from 0.16 to 0.21 for the 1-year interval and from 0.29 to 0.31 for the 2-year test interval. Across all measures, the observed effects were small, ranging from 0.01 to 0.44.

This investigation noted less than optimal reliability for the most common concussion baseline assessments. While none of the assessments met or exceeded the accepted clinical threshold, the effect sizes were relatively small suggesting an overlap in performance from year-to-year. As such, baseline assessments beyond the initial evaluation in cadets are not essential but could aid concussion diagnosis.

Recent media reports have focused on the large increase in antidepressants dispensed in England. We investigated this, focusing on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

To examine the rate of initiation of SSRIs over time and changes over time in the duration of prescribing episodes.

We estimated initiation and duration of SSRI prescribing from 7 025 802 individuals aged over 18 years and registered with a general practice that contributed data to The Health Improvement Network.

Rates of SSRI initiation increased from 1.03 per 100 person-years in 1995 to 2.15 in 2001, but remained stable from then to 2012. The median duration of prescribing episodes increased from 112 to 169 days for episodes starting in 1995 to 2010.

Despite media reports describing an increasing rate of antidepressant prescribing, SSRI initiation rates have stabilised since 2001. However, our results suggest that individuals who take SSRIs are receiving treatment for longer.